Six-figure pay raises for top state education leaders in New York have sparked bipartisan criticism and calls for greater transparency regarding how much public servants are paid.
Lawmakers are introducing bills on pay for agency heads and the chancellors for SUNY and CUNY systems after outlets reported that Education Commissioner Betty Rosa received a pay hike of $155,000 last year, and that SUNY Chancellor John King has a total compensation package surpassing $1 million. King’s seven-figure pay includes a monthly housing allowance of $15,000.
“They look at that and they’re kind of scratching their heads, thinking, ‘Is this a joke?’” said Jake Ashby, a Republican senator from the Capitol region. “Fifteen-thousand dollars a month equates to over $180,000 a year, which is more than [what] most of the constituents in my district make annually. He gets paid that as a housing stipend, which is insulting.”
As a comparison, the governor makes $250,000.
Ashby said he will introduce a bill this week that would require the Senate to sign off with two-thirds majority on any salaries for heads of state agencies or commissions if they’re higher than the governor’s salary. Ashby is also introducing another law that would require SUNY chancellors to live in the state, which he says would make a housing allowance unnecessary.
“What we’re looking at with these bills is more oversight in general,” he said.
Education officials defended the pay increase for Rosa, arguing that the move was to ensure she was paid on par or more than the school superintendents she oversees, and that such scrutiny on Rosa perpetuates unfair standards for women of color.
Holly Liapis, press secretary for the SUNY Chancellor’s Office, wrote in a statement that despite leading the largest statewide public university system in the country, “The current compensation level for the SUNY Chancellor remains more than $100,000 lower than the compensation for similar public university leaders in California, Maryland and Texas.”
Hudson Valley Democrat James Skoufis wants to take things a step further. The senator says the chancellor’s salary should not be more than the governor’s.
“This is just patently elitist,” Skoufis said. “It's out of touch and it’s incumbent on the legislature to do something about it.”
Skoufis is proposing a pay cut for King in the state budget and is reintroducing a bill he wrote in 2023, which he initially wrote when the Board of Trustees for SUNY hired King at an annual base salary of $750,000 — a figure that far surpassed his predecessors’ pay.
If Skoufis’ bill passes, salaries for top leaders in the SUNY and CUNY systems would have to get the greenlight from both legislative chambers and the Division of Budget.
“There needs to be a check on when these so-called public servants are looking to, in this case, give themselves a six figure pay raise, not to mention, increase any housing allowance to support not one but two, taxpayer funded residences,” Skoufis said, referencing King, who previously had a monthly housing allowance of $12,500. He also previously received a monthly allowance of $4,000 to travel from New York to his Maryland home.
